Prompt Generator: Shadows to the Walls of the Cave
by lothcat1138
Summary: A prompt generator spat out a title for a few friends on Discord. 'Shadows to the Walls of the Cave' is the weird thing that came out, so here's my attempt.


**As am I sure y'all can see, a group of us decided to come together for a prompt exercise. Each of us was given a randomly generated title and set loose. Those being:**

**Without further ado...**

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The peace just wasn't the same. Even spending the whole day alone meditating and contemplating, the relative peace of Lothal just wasn't the same as he remembered. It wasn't hard to think of why.

Everything about Ezra's life had been turned on its head in a matter of days. His home, returning at last to it after many years, had been transformed by an Imperial occupation he'd helped bring about. Every idea he'd had about the force had been challenged back in the Temple, leaving him musing on Ahsoka's warning that one could never understand the force fully.

Above all, of course, there was Kanan. Three days already felt like a lifetime ago. It wasn't that Ezra didn't know to keep going or that he wasn't ready to step up. All of them knew to put duty first, no matter the cost. The hard part was simple: Ezra missed him. Ezra missed him and he was never coming back. No amount of meditation, no victory over the Empire, no deep revelations about the force, were going to make that easier.

It was awfully silent as Ezra trudged back up to the rebels' base camp. When he reached their base's main chamber, the silence became deafening once more. It was broken only by the crackling of a tiny fire burning in the middle of the cave. Its light barely reached across the chamber, unable to risk anything larger being spotted by an Imperial scout or probe.

Just as Ezra was about to slink into a deeper chamber of the cave, a glimmer of gold caught his eye. On the far side of the cave, barely touched by the fire's light, one figure sat facing away in silence. As his eyes adjusted, he could make out the splashes of colour on her pauldrons and glimpses of purple elsewhere. He should have figured that Sabine wouldn't be sleeping either.

Ezra cast an uncertain look at the ground for a moment before taking a slow, quiet step towards her. Even his most careful steps were loud enough for her to hear. Ezra saw the slightest tilt of her head, enough to know she'd noticed him. He waited a moment longer for any refusal from her. When nothing came, he kept walking.

She was sitting on the ground with her back to the fire and her knees tucked up close to her body. Ezra fell down beside her without a word, similarly wrapping his arms around his legs. They'd both been exhausted after their trip to the Temple, yet neither of them seemed to want sleep. Not after everything life had piled on them in the last few days.

The worst part was that they'd barely spoken about it. After it happened they'd both split off their separate ways. They came back together for the mission to the Temple, but Ezra had spent all the time since then either unconscious in a mining truck or trying to make sense of it all in private. With Kanan gone, Sabine was his closest friend. The one he'd feel most comfortable opening up to, and he knew that he meant the same to her. Shutting each other out wasn't helping either of them.

"How are you feeling?" It was her that broke the silence. "Things got… crazy, didn't they?"

He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck and shrugged. "Yeah, I'm still wrapping my head around it." The next sentence tumbled out without thinking. "I just wish Kanan were here to help me make sense of it."

Silence.

Ezra wanted to kick himself. This was hard enough without him being stupid enough to say things that were so depressing.

"I shouldn't have stormed off", Sabine said suddenly. "Zeb and I went for revenge and we shouldn't have. It's not what Kanan would have wanted." She sighed heavily. "I'm… sorry."

He shook his head at her and sighed. "You don't have to apologise for dealing with it in your own way, Sabine."

"It's not that I… ugh!" Ezra could see a flash of anger and frustration across her face. "I don't know if I really regret what we did, it's just that we should have been there for Hera." She stopped and looked at him for the first time since he'd joined her. "I should have been there for you."

Ezra met her gaze. The defiance and spirit that was always there didn't shine through, instead replaced with anger and grief. He knew how that felt, but seeing it in his closest friend felt so wrong. Some part of him found the strength to push through and do his best to comfort her. She deserved that much.

"We all had to take some time to ourselves. I needed it, so did Hera, and so did you." Ezra rested a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I don't know when things'll be okay again but I know we'll all be here for each other either way."

Sabine's anger faded. Her lips parted as if she was surprised by him. It only took a moment for her to smile gently and give him a closer, searching look.

"You're so much different to that street rat we picked up all those years ago", she breathed, her voice barely more than a whisper. "Kanan would be so proud of you. He was so proud of you. I hope you know that."

Ezra managed to smile, if only a little bit. "I know. Without him - without all of you guys - I'd be back in Capital City, helpless just like everyone else."

If Kanan hadn't given him the chance to be better then his life would be so much different. Almost everything in his life that he valued, he had Kanan to thank for. The Jedi training and the Rebellion, sure, but more importantly it was the family. Be that Hera's motherly protection or Zeb and his' brotherly bond, or of course his best friend, sat beside him right now.

"He'd be proud of you too." His attention went back to her. "Of the person you've become. The leader, the warrior, the artist. Even this", he gestured between them, "letting yourself be open and, you know, emotional."

She huffed a laugh. "I guess so. He always did complain how tightly-wound I was. Seems like he got through to me in the end, right?"

A smile tugged gently at his lips. For a moment, Ezra was lost in happier memories. It didn't take long for those to be pushed away and for reality to come crashing down again. They may be on the path to accepting Kanan's loss, but they were nowhere near the end yet.

"I'm going to miss him", he almost whispered, his voice breaking slightly.

Sabine reached an arm around him and leaned her head onto his shoulder. She waited a moment as if trying to find some words, but nothing came. Instead she gave a wavering sigh. "I will too."

"We all will."

They both jumped as Hera's voice cut across the cavern. The Twi'lek was standing just outside of the chamber the Spectres had made their camp in. She was watching them both with with her arms hugged closely around her body. Ezra almost didn't notice Zeb standing cautiously behind her, his dark fur blending into the shadows of the cave.

"You guys just stood there watching us, huh?" Sabine had managed to find a little bit of humour within her.

"Didn't want to interrupt at the wrong time", Hera shrugged.

Ezra gestured with his head. "You guys joining us?"

With another smile, Hera walked over and sat down next to Sabine, still with a little more timidness and uncertainty than before. Zeb lumbered down besides Ezra with a deep sigh, heavier and more tired than usual.

They sat in silence for a long time, save for the crackling of the fire behind them. Ezra caught himself watching how their four shadows danced in the flickering light, moving gently yet unpredictably with the fire.

"We'll be okay", Hera said. She seemed to be telling herself as much as she was telling them. "Ezra's right. Kanan may not be here, but we still have each other. That's enough, I think, for us to be okay."

Once more, Ezra was drawn to the shadows on the wall of the cave.

Four of them. One less than there used to be. One less than there should be. In time, they'd learn to live with that.

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**Be sure to check out the others that joined in on the prompt. Ridger is new here and will be posting soon, so show him some love and welcome him to our weird little corner of the internet. The others are:**

**WestwardGlance - "I should know."**  
**CdnChrgr - "Every step that I ran to you."**  
**Ridger - "Love it too much."******

**Thanks for reading, it's good to stretch the fanfic muscles again.**

**\- Lothcat1138**


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